Lake Champlain Basin Program buoy data

Matthew Vaughan

2021-07-23

Welcome

This website shows data from a monitoring buoy located in the Main Lake segment, near Valcour Island. Two additional buoys will be deployed and added to this website later in 2021.

All data plots are interactive. Hover over plots to see details on each measurement, or click and drag to zoom in on a section. Additional features can be found at the top right of each plot.

This website is under development. All data is provisional and for educational purposes only.

Valcour buoy weather data

Latest weather conditions, recorded 2021-07-23 11:00:00

Air temperature: 20.7 degrees Celsius (69.3 degrees Fahrenheit)

Wind speed: 1.9 meters per second (4.3 miles per hour)

Wind direction: 78 degrees from North

Relative atmospheric pressure: 102.3 kilopascals (767.1 millimeters of mercury; 30.2 inches of mercury)

Weather conditions from the past 30 days:

valcour_weather_plot <- valcour_weather %>%
  filter(!(timestamp == ymd_hms("2021-07-06 03:30:00") &
           var == "wind_speed_mps")) %>% # remove erroneous value
  mutate(var = var %>%
               recode(air_temp_degC = "Air temperature (degrees Celsius)",
                      wind_speed_mps = "Wind speed (meters per second)",
                      wind_direction_deg = "Wind direction (degrees from North)",
                      rel_atm_pressure_kPa = "Relative atmospheric pressure (kilopascals)")) %>%
  ggplot() +
  geom_line(aes(x = timestamp,
                y = value,
                color = var)) +
  facet_wrap(var ~ .,
             scales = "free_y",
             ncol = 1,
             strip.position = "top") +
  scale_color_viridis(discrete = TRUE) +
  theme(legend.position = "none",
        text = element_text(face = "bold",
                                  size = 14)) +
  labs(x = "", y = "")

ggplotly(valcour_weather_plot)

Valcour buoy water temperature data

Latest water temperature profile, recorded 2021-07-23 11:00:00

latest_valcour_watertemp_plot <- valcour_watertemp %>%
  filter(timestamp == latest_timestamp) %>%
  ggplot() +
  geom_line(aes(x = degC,
                y = depth_m),
            size = 1.5) +
  scale_y_reverse() +
  labs(x = "Temperature (deg C)",
       y = "Depth below water surface (m)") +
  theme(text = element_text(face = "bold",
                            size = 14))

ggplotly(latest_valcour_watertemp_plot)
# Turned off for now. 
# enter number of days to look back:
day_window <- 7

timestamp_labeller <- function(x){
  as.POSIXct(x, origin = '1970-01-01')
}

last_week_valcour_watertemp_plot <- valcour_watertemp %>%
  filter(timestamp > (latest_timestamp - duration(day_window, units = "days"))) %>%
  ggplot() +
  geom_line(aes(x = degC,
                y = depth_m,
                color = timestamp,
                group = timestamp),
            alpha = 0.4,
            size = 1) +
  scale_y_reverse() +
  scale_color_viridis(option = "magma",
                      direction = -1,
                      labels = timestamp_labeller) +
  labs(x = "Temperature (deg C)",
       y = "Depth below water surface (m)")

ggplotly(last_week_valcour_watertemp_plot)

Water temperature data from the past 30 days:

valcour_watertemp_plot <- valcour_watertemp %>%
  ggplot() +
  geom_tile(aes(x = timestamp,
                y = depth_m,
                fill = degC)) +
  scale_fill_viridis("Temperature\n(deg C)",
                     option = "plasma") +
  scale_y_reverse() +
  labs(x = "",
       y = "Depth below water surface (m)") +
  theme(text = element_text(face = "bold",
                            size = 14))

ggplotly(valcour_watertemp_plot)

More information

Lake Champlain monitoring buoys are supported by the Lake Champlain Basin Program, in partnership with New York and Vermont Departments of Environmental Conservation and SUNY Plattsburgh.

Please contact Matthew Vaughan for more information.